Electronic transaction system

Abstract

A request for a commodity that each office in an organization needs is sent from a terminal in the office to a general affairs service center in the organization. The request is then sent to a VAN center where it is entered into databases and appears in a home page of a WWW server. In the case of a request to order a commodity, a decision is made as to whether or not an estimate has been made for the commodity. If it has not been made, the order request is sent to the WWW server after a reply to the estimate request has been received from the vendor. The vendor acquires the request information that appears in a home page of the WWW server connected with a network and then makes an estimate for the commodity and delivers it.

What is claimed is:  
     
         1 . An electronic transaction system for making a request for estimating or ordering an article or service required by an organization to a vendor outside the organization comprising: 
 a processing unit installed inside the organization and having input means for inputting an estimate or order request and inputting information related to the request on the basis of information sent from the vendor after the request has been made; and    a management unit for managing communications between the processing unit in the organization and a processing unit in the vendor company, the management unit including: 
 information entry means installed inside the organization for entering data input by the input means of the processing unit in the organization;  
 transmission means for transmitting the estimate or order request entered into the information entry means installed in the organization and request-related data input later as requested by the processing unit in the vendor company; and  
 entry means installed outside the organization for transmitting data used by the vendor to make a reply to the estimate or order request as requested by the processing unit in the vendor company and entering data input and sent by the processing unit in the vendor company.  
   
     
     
         2 . The electronic transaction system according to  claim 1 , wherein if, when an order for an article or service is sent to the vendor, and an estimate reply has not been obtained from the vendor, a request to estimate the article or service is made to the vendor before the order is sent and the order is then sent after a reply to the estimate request has been received.  
     
     
         3 . The electronic transaction system according to  claim 2 , wherein, when replies to the estimate request are obtained from two or more vendors, an order request is automatically made to a vendor that fulfills predetermined evaluation criteria.  
     
     
         4 . The electronic transaction system according to  claim 1 , wherein the both the entry means installed inside and outside the organization store data indicating that acceptance inspection of the article or service has been made in the organization, and the management unit presents that data in the entry means installed inside or outside the organization together with the data related to the request.  
     
     
         5 . The electronic transaction system according to  claim 1 , wherein when the vendor accepts the order, the management unit allows the processing unit installed in the vendor company to print a statement of delivery.  
     
     
         6 . The electronic transaction system according to  claim 1 , wherein the management unit obtains the date on which the vendor delivered the article or the service from the vendor and stores it in the entry means installed inside and outside the organization.  
     
     
         7 . An electronic transaction system for making a request for ordering articles or services required by an organization to vendors outside the organization comprising: 
 first processing units installed in department offices of the organization for inputting order requests and a second processing unit installed inside the organization for managing estimate or order requests made by the first processing units, wherein    the second processing unit including management means for managing dates of delivery of articles or services input from processing units installed in the vendor companies and acceptance processing means for determining, for each first processing unit that makes a new estimate or order request, the presence or absence of order requests made by that first processing unit for which acceptance inspection of an article or service delivered has not been made within a predetermined period of time after its date of delivery and refusing the new request when the acceptance inspection has not been made.    
     
     
         8 . An electronic transaction management unit for managing communications between a processing unit installed inside an organization for making a request for estimating or ordering an article or service and a processing unit installed in a vendor company outside the organization comprising: 
 information entry means installed inside the organization for entering data input by the input means of the processing unit in the organization;    transmission means for transmitting the estimate or order request entered into the information entry means installed in the organization and request-related data input later as requested by the processing unit in the vendor company; and    entry means installed outside the organization for transmitting data used by the vendor to make a reply to the estimate or order request as requested by the processing unit in the vendor company and entering data input and sent by the processing unit in the vendor company.    
     
     
         9 . The electronic transaction management unit according to  claim 8 , wherein the management unit manages communications related to estimates or orders made by a plurality of organizations.  
     
     
         10 . A computer-readable storage medium for allowing a computer to performs the functions of: 
 managing estimate requests or order requests made by first processing units installed in a plurality of departments in an organization;    managing dates of delivery of articles or services input by processing units installed in vendor companies outside the organization in response to order requests made by the first processing units; and    for a first processing unit that makes a new estimate or order request, deciding the presence or absence of an order request for which acceptance inspection of an article or service delivered has not been made within a predetermined period of time after its date of delivery and refusing acceptance of the new request when the acceptance inspection has not yet been made.    
     
     
         11 . A computer-readable storage medium for allowing a computer to perform the functions of: 
 entering data input by input means of a processing unit installed inside an organization;    transmitting an estimate or order request entered and data related to the request input later as requested by a processing unit installed in a vendor company outside the organization; and    transmitting data used by the vendor to make a reply to the estimate or order request as requested by the processing unit in the vendor company and entering data input and transmitted by the processing unit in the vendor company.